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Webster 1913 Edition

Nail

Nail

(nāl)
,
Noun.
[AS.
naegel
, akin to D.
nagel
, OS. & OHG.
nagal
, G.
nagel
, Icel.
nagl
, nail (in sense 1),
nagli
nail (in sense 3), Sw.
nagel
nail (in senses 1 and 3), Dan.
nagle
, Goth.
ganagljan
to nail, Lith.
nagas
nail (in sense 1), Russ.
nogote
, L.
unguis
, Gr.
ὅνυξ
, Skr.
nakha
. √259.]
1.
(Anat.)
the horny scale of plate of epidermis at the end of the fingers and toes of man and many apes.
His
nayles
like a briddes claws were.
Chaucer.
☞ The nails are strictly homologous with hoofs and claws. When compressed, curved, and pointed, they are called
talons
or
claws
, and the animal bearing them is said to be unguiculate; when they incase the extremities of the digits they are called hoofs, and the animal is ungulate.
2.
(Zool.)
(a)
The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
(b)
The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.
3.
A slender, pointed piece of metal, usually with a head{2}, used for fastening pieces of wood or other material together, by being driven into or through them.
☞ The different sorts of nails are named either from the use to which they are applied, from their shape, from their size, or from some other characteristic, as shingle, floor, ship-carpenters’, and horseshoe nails, roseheads, diamonds, fourpenny, tenpenny (see
Penny
,
Adj.
), chiselpointed, cut, wrought, or wire nails, etc.
4.
A measure of length, being two inches and a quarter, or the sixteenth of a yard.

Nail

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Nailed
(nāld)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Nailing
.]
[AS.
naeglian
. See
Nail
,
Noun.
]
1.
To fasten with a nail or nails; to close up or secure by means of nails;
as, to
nail
boards to the beams
.
He is now dead, and
nailed
in his chest.
Chaucer.
2.
To stud or boss with nails, or as with nails.
The rivets of your arms were
nailed
with gold.
Dryden.
3.
To fasten, as with a nail; to bind or hold, as to a bargain or to acquiescence in an argument or assertion; hence, to catch; to trap.
When they came to talk of places in town, you saw at once how I
nailed
them.
Goldsmith.
4.
To spike, as a cannon.
[Obs.]
Crabb.
To nail an assertion
or
To nail a lie
, etc.,
to detect and expose it, so as to put a stop to its currency; – an expression probably derived from the former practice of shopkeepers, who were accustomed to nail bad or counterfeit pieces of money to the counter.

Webster 1828 Edition

Nail

NAIL

,
Noun.
If the word was originally applied to a claw or talon, the primary sense may be to catch, or it may be a shoot.
1.
The claw or talon of a fowl or other animal.
2.
The horny substance growing at the end of the human fingers and toes.
3.
A small pointed piece of metal, usually with a head, to be driven into a board or other piece of timber, and serving to fasten it to other timber. The larger kinds of instruments of this sort are called spikes; and a long thin kind with a flattish head, is called a brad.
4.
A stud or boss; a short nail with a large broad head.
5.
A measure of length, being two inches and a quarter, or the 16th of a yard.
6.
On the nail, in hand; immediately; without delay or time of credit; as, to pay money on the nail.
7.
To hit the nail on the head, to hit or touch the exact point.

NAIL

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To fasten with nails; to unite, close or make compact with nails.
2.
To stud with nails.
3.
To stop the vent of a cannon; to spike.

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